Innocent Evil
by Badge Nightmare
Summary: No one in the ninja world had prepared for her, and what she was. Simply because no one had ever, nor expected to come across such a thing. She was something no one could ignore, everyone loved, everyone hated, the thing everyone never expected. She was an innocent evil
1. Prologue: A Simple Start

Lucifer was bored.

Not just any kind of bored though, it was the worst kind of bored. The bored where, no matter how hard you think or look, there's nothing around to cure your boredom.

_That _kind of bored.

She was currently sitting on one of those spinny chairs repeatedly going around in one direction before stopping suddenly, and spinning the other way. Her mother's co-workers and clients bustled around everywhere, kind of like a bee hive. It was one of those offices that you found in billion story sky scrapers. A bunch of desks crammed together and separated by a thin piece of white plaster. Melody, Lucifer's mom, had told her specifically to stay in her pathetic excuse for an office while she went and did some adult stuff.

"_Stay here while I do some adult work, okay honey?"  
"What if I get bored Mommy?"  
"Don't worry my little Lucy," Melody cooed while lifting Lucifer off the chair and kissing her forehead "you'll think of something, Mommy's gotta go now, be good"  
"Yes Mommy"_

That was 2 hours ago.

Lucy was a very patient person from birth, probably inherited from her Grandfather, but she was still only a child, and children happen to get bored very easily. She stopped the chair spinning with her foot and slid to the ground. Compared to before the noise seemed almost non-existent now, so the continuous tapping that she started hearing seemed very loud to Lucy.

She waited a bit, but the tapping was still there, it sounded as if it had gotten even louder. All other sound seemed to have been blocked out by Lucy as she focussed intently on the tapping. It sounded like it was coming from the hallway directly across from Melody's office.

As one of the office workers walked by she stuck out her arm and grabbed the hem of his jacket. He glanced at her and sighed.

"Look little girl, I don't have time to play with you"

"Sir can't you hear that tapping?"

The worker took a second to pause and listen intently, but to the little girls shock he didn't hear it.

"If this is some kind of joke than it's not funny, I have work to do"

"Please sir, can you just look down that hall for me?" She looked up at him with bright maroon eyes filled with tears. At first glance they were normal, plain even, but if you tried to look deeper you could see her eyes were more of a dark brown with reddish flecks in them, giving you the illusion they were maroon.

He sighed a final time before gently grabbing her wrist and leading her down the hall. Lucy made him walk up and down the hall five times before she was content that nothing was there (though the tapping still was) and let him go.

She toddled back to her Momma's office and climbed back on the chair. The tapping was more annoying than scary now, but the little girl found she could block it out if she tried hard enough. Her Grandpa was always saying how if you tried hard enough, you could hear anything within a close radius, the same went for blocking things out.

"_Grandpa what are you gonna teach me today? I'm so excited. All the things you teach me are really cool!" Lucifer bounced around her grandfather happily as they walked out onto the porch where they could easily see the forest and the rain cascading from the sky._

_He chuckled softly, it reminded her of fabric passing over fabric "Settle down little devil, did you know that if you practice lots and focus hard you can hear anything around you? The same goes for blocking things out of course"_

"_Wow that's so cool Grandpa, teach me! Teach me!"_

Lucy was proud and grateful she had mastered that quickly, and her Grandpa had been even happier for her.

She smiled to herself and started spinning on the chair again, only then being reminded of her previous boredom. She spun the chair around in circles for a while, but soon found that the more bored she got the louder the tapping became.

Eventually it was too much for her and she leapt off her seat and stormed down the hall with her arms crossed over her chest and face set into an adorable frown.

"Come out wherever you are, you big meanie!" The child shouted and stomped her feet, silence greeting her loud accusation.

"I know you're down here, someone has to be making this tapping, machines don't tap they whirr" She said smartly, poking her way down the hall again. Carefully examining every nook and cranny, every corner, anywhere the thing that was making the noise could be hiding. This time she noticed something that she didn't see the first five times she walked through this hall.

At the very end of it, in the left corner the shadows seemed a bit darker, a bit more sinister and foreboding than any other corner in the building. Orange seemed to be swirling fitfully through shadows, going in one direction before suddenly changing its path. It seemed to be alive, or have a mind of its own at the very least.

She took another step closer and the tapping stopped, the swirling shadows were still and for a second the little girl thought she had stopped breathing as well. But then the tapping started again, faster and louder, it resounded around her head like the banging of drums. The shadows swirled, outwards and got bigger, they reached towards her with clawed like hands, and formed the body of a terrifying nine-tailed fox that towered over her. She couldn't help herself, her Grandad and Grandma always said to never show signs of weakness around predators not to make a sound but she just couldn't help herself.

She screamed.

Melody had never been so stressed in her life. She had a loving husband who was always full of surprises and curiosity, a beautiful daughter that had been taught the ways of etiquette and survival way before she was supposed to know. Both of Melody's parents were alive and well, having a big part in Lucifer's upbringing.

The only thing that _wasn't _perfect was her job.

Numerous times before Lucifer had complained about how Melody could never spend any time with her unless she brought her to work, and even then it was brief. Her job was the epitome of hell.

Crowded desks that we were supposed to call _offices, _hours that were long and not negotiable, 15 minute lunch breaks and no time for holidays.

She had considered quitting quite often, but she needed this job to help support her family, and with Lucifer starting kindergarten soon (at the tender age of five) quitting was simply out of the question.

With that thought Melody continued on her way back to her officeso she and Lucy could go home and have a nice bubble bath together while sipping vanilla chocolates. She was just about to turn the last corner to her office when a high pitched and terrified scream broke out from the office.

Time seemed to slow down for a second before Melody's brain kicked into overdrive recognizing the voice almost immediately. Ignoring the pain in her legs from standing all day, ignoring everything around her.

Only one word kept repeating over and over in her head.

_Lucifer_

She went down the last hall where she was sure she had heard the scream, her mouth fell open and her eyes widened as she watched her own child being dragged kicking and screaming through the wall by a gigantic fox.

And that was the straw that broke the camel's back. The stress crashed down on her, 50 times worse, it was so heavy that she was brought to her knees still staring at the spot her daughter had been dragged through. Tears leaked out the corners of her eyes leaving pitch black streaks down her face that resembled her pitch black feelings. She didn't move, not even when the police came or her co-workers gathered around her trying to ask her what happened. She didn't react, just kept on staring at that spot where she had last seen her daughter.

Never again would she be able to hold her and tell her she's her precious treasure, share secrets with each other, never again would they run through the fields hand in hand, never again would she scold her for staying up and reading when she should be in bed.

Never again

She felt her husband's arms wrap around her and pull her to his chest, safe and secure is what she should feel, but she wasn't feeling much at the moment, just broken and empty. He whispered promises in her ear that she knew he could never complete no matter how much he tried.

Slowly she got to her feet before ripping her eyes away from where she had last seen her little Lucy, and bolting out of the sky scraper with her husband hot on her heel's.

She ran past the car park pushing past the people on the street with her husband following close behind. Her feelings were easy to understand and read for almost anybody, but they could only see the surface, they didn't know how much it hurt, but they also didn't know how angry and desperate it made her. Her daughter _was not __dead_. Just somewhere else, lost and probably waiting for her mother to come and save her.

She would _not _let her daughter down, screw it if the devil would come after her.

"Mel, stop running pointlessly! It won't help anything!" Worry was bleeding through his voice. Jack didn't even bother to hide it.

"Who says I'm running pointlessly!" She shouted back, stopping in front of the state library, looking just as large and full of life as she remembered.

She pushed open the doors and went straight to the section where historical events were recorded. Jack came up behind her puffing from the exertion it had taken to keep up with Melody.

"What are you doing Melody? Is this some sort of coping mechanism?"

"She's not dead Jack"

"The authorities said she was dead, but I guess they weren't there, so care to tell me what happened" Jacks body posture was more relaxed now that he realised that his wife wasn't going to try and kill herself or something equally ludicrous.

"All it took was for me to hear that scream and I banked into that hall, just in time to see my baby get dragged through the wall by some kind of fox demon looking thing, she was alive"

"Ah I see, but what if you were hallucinating?" He really didn't like doubting his wife, but in situations like these it's better to double check every piece of information.

"I know what I saw, it was no hallucination, I would be able to tell between my daughter and a fake" She replied while busily shuffling through the various folders on the shelves.

"What do you exactly plan on doing then?" Going and doing things pointlessly would get you nowhere.

"Finding out how to get my daughter back, or at least know that she's safe and in good hands"

"Sounds like a good plan, I couldn't have done any better myself if I had seen what you had seen" He said helping her shuffle through the folders, for what he still didn't know.

"It was the best I could think of while in _that _state of mind"

"I don't blame you it was probably harsh" Just thinking about his wife going into some kind of depression made him want to punch something. Repeatedly.

"Still is, I'm fighting the urge to just go home curl up in a ball and cry myself to sleep repeatedly" Melody confessed with a sad tone, praying to whatever god's out there that her baby was safe.

Light flittered through the green leaves of the trees, illuminating a pale girl only five years old. The steady rising and falling of her small chest was the only sign she was alive, but even then it was only just barely. The clothes that she wore were obviously once beautiful and stylish, but now they were torn and in tatters covered in red. There were scratches all over her body, some were still bleeding and ran quite deep, others shallow and already scabbed over. Purple and olive bruises covered her back, arms and legs, covering almost all of her pale skin. Animals hid in between the trees and shrubs, daring to peek their heads out at this person that had fallen from the heavens.

Her eyes flickered under their lids, showing signs of dreaming. She shifted slightly in her sleep, making her dark caramel hair fall over her face. She shifted again, harder this time, scaring some of the creatures away before she started repeatedly having spasms and shaking.

'**Wake up brat' **a deep voice growled in the girls head **'It'll be easier for you if your awake'.**

"Uhn" The girls eye's slowly slid open but soon squeezed shut again when an overwhelming pain hit her.

'**Relax your body so it can get used to my chakra and build its own tenketsu system'**

Another wave of pain made the girl curl into a tight ball. She was in so much pain she didn't even realise that something was talking to her in her head.

'**Listen to me girl!' **The voice growled, louder this time.

"W-who are y-y-you? W-where are you?" The girl stuttered out after the wave of pain had passed. It felt as if someone was squishing her organs and veins to the side to accommodate this weird flow-y liquid-y stuff. It felt nice, like cool water after a hot day, the liquid stuff that is not the squishing.

'**I am in your head, and for what you can call me, ahh, you can call me Ashi, girly'**

It was an interesting feeling, it hurt but at the same time it felt so nice, until it was everywhere. Since the girl wasn't in as much pain as before she could concentrate more on her surroundings, but the more she concentrated the more she felt suffocated by the stuff now flowing through new veins.

It was everywhere, the trees, the animals even the air. The girl gasped and clawed at her throat in attempt to expel the stuff from her lungs, but it was no use.

'**Don't panic, keep your breathing even and you'll eventually get used to it'**

She listened to Ashi's words and tried to calm her breathing as much as possible. She still felt it everywhere, but at least it was more bearable now.

"Where am I? Where's Mummy's office building, I don't think there are any forests near there" She said, confused at her surroundings. Mummy had always said that if she ended up somewhere she didn't know, find the nearest phone and call her.

'**You're in the middle of a forest, what are you? Dumb? Great I picked an illiterate' **He went on to grumble for a couple more minutes, saying things that the girl didn't understand but didn't sound very nice at all.

Deciding to ignore the mean voice she slowly sat up to examine her wounds. None looked that bad anymore, and the girl realised that they were healing over faster than they would have normally, she watched in wonder as her skin knit itself back together and bruises gradually faded back into her pale unscathed skin.

The skin of a child that doesn't know of the word war, and the most pain she had probably experienced was grazing her knee on the concrete.

An innocent.

Somewhere far off in the future after years of the child's skin hardening to stone, and pain was an everyday thing, Ashi had wondered more than once if he had done the right thing by picking this innocent girl.

But for the moment he had no objections against stealing the girl from her world for his own purposes.

No one in the ninja world had prepared for her, and what she was.

Simply because no one had ever, nor expected to come across such a thing.

She was something no one could ignore, everyone loved, everyone hated, the thing everyone never expected.

She was an innocent evil


	2. Time Fly's, Tears Dry

**A/N: The following chapter is going to be various scenes during half a year that Lucy has been staying in the Naruto world :D please enjoy**

**Chapter 2**

**Time Fly's, Tears Dry**

A little girl sat at the base of a big tree in a forest, tears poured down her face and dripped onto the dirt ground. The tears distorted the picture that the girl had drawn with a stick, a father, a mother, a grandpa, a grandma and a little girl.

One big happy family.

Not anymore, she thought bringing fresh tears from her eyes.

Just hours ago back in that dreadful clearing where she woke up Ashi had explained to her how he had taken her from her home for his own purposes.

_'Your my vessel now girly, this world isn't your own, its mine' Ashi spoke in her head 'you won't ever be able to get back so you should just forget about it and start a new life here'_

_"Why would you do that? I wasn't mean to you I didn't do anything wrong, I ate my vegetables and used manners like a good girl, why?" She cried out, rubbing at her eyes fitfully._

_'You were in the wrong place at the wrong time, move on with your life' He growled out before disappearing back into the confines of her head._

_"I HATE YOU!" She screamed out, getting to her feet and sprinting through the large forest._

The little girl still couldn't wrap her head around why?

And like any 5 year old would do when they had lost the only place they had to call home, she cried for the rest of the day and a little of the night before falling into a fitful sleep filled with nightmares. She woke up and the first word she could think was Hungry, then It hurts, tired and cold.

Survival instincts took over almost immediately. Making her identify the only one she could ask for food was Ashi, right now she didn't care that she was so far away from home, or that Ashi was the one that had taken her from that home.

"Ashi, I'm hungry" She mumbled out, shivering from the morning air.

**'I though you hated me girly, I'll only help you if you forget about your old home and stop being difficult'**

"Hungry, Ashi, feed me" She mumbled out again, peering up through half-lidded eyes.

**'Fine' **He spoke back.

And thus the beginning of a beautiful relationship was formed through a little girls need for food.

* * *

"Ashi, Ashi get up, you said you'd teach me about chactera today"

**'It's chakra girly, say it with me now cha-k-ra'**

"Cha-ke-ra"

**'That will need improving, but I guess it's expected'**

The little girl skipped down the dirt pathway and out of the village she had stayed at that night. After her first couple of nights sleeping in the forest Ashi decided he couldn't deal with the complaining and explained to her how to steal money, though the first few (25) times were a fail.

_"'Scuse me Miss" The little girl shouted out to a lady up ahead only to bump into her a couple of seconds later. She went through the instructions that Ashi gave her in her head and fumbled to get her hands into the ladies pocket to steal her purse._

_"What are you doing you filthy child, get your hands away from my money! Help! Help!"_

_Needless to say the little girl had to get very good at running. Though sometimes Ashi said she was very lucky before mumbling about thanking the gods that ninja never came after her._

**'So the first step is for you to feel your chakra, shouldn't be too hard considering you weren't born with it'**

"It's that funny stuff running through my new veins isn't it, and it's that stuff that's everywhere right Ashi?" The girl questioned excited that she could finally do something right for Ashi.

**'That's right girly, chakra is that stuff that flows through your body and helps to keep things alive. But your special, since the chakra in your body isn't yours you can live without it since you've practically lived without it since you were born'**

"Yay! I got it right" She said happily while running down the path for a bit with her hands waving in the air.

**'The next bit will be much more difficult, there are 12 basic hand seals used to manipulate the chakra in your body so you can perform jutsu's'**

"What's a juetsu Ashi?" She asked quizzically her head tilted to the side.

**'A jutsu can do many things like help you manipulate water, fire, wind, earth and all the other attributes-'**

"So it's like magic?"

**'Well I gue-'**

"Yay Ashi's gonna teach me how to do magic like Harry Potter!" The girl yelled with enthusiasm while skipping around in a circle joyfully.

**'Why do I even bother?'**

* * *

There was a little girl walking along a dirt road as the sun was just setting, Ashi had told her not to stay out too late before going to sleep or else bad people would come. She hummed a tune happily as she made her way to the next village she would be staying at.

Up ahead she could see three rough looking people making their way in the opposite direction to her. When she got to them they moved outwards and formed a circle around her.

"I'm scared Ashi, why are their people surrounding me?" The girl whispered causing the three people to laugh, the leader leant forward and picked her up by the front of her shirt.

"Look little girly, there's no one else here, so who ya talkin to" The leaders voice was smooth and strong like liquid metal, as he gestured around to the only other two people there.

"If ya don't answer us we'll have ta steal everything that ya own, but den again we'll steal all yer stuff anyway" He spoke again, grinning to show his chalky teeth while his friends laughed cheering him on.

The girl started whimpering until Ashi's presence once again came forth in her mind.

**'Don't just take it girly, use what I've taught you' **Ashi growled in her head.

Suddenly everything became clearer to the girl, the sharp scent of something bitter, the fading light illuminating a sharp thing in the man's pocket, and the feel of his breath fanning against her face.

Lessons with Ashi flew through her head quickly, making her actions come like second nature.

_'Punch like this'_

She punched.

_'When they fall kick like this'_

As they both fell she lifted her right leg and kicked his bleeding head before landing on the ground gracefully.

_'When they hit back use their momentum against them'_

He tried to punch her with his right arm as he fell to the ground, so she grabbed it and twisted it behind him.

_'Then deliver the last blow'_

As soon as he touched the ground she jumped and twisted, using her own momentum to kick his head a final time.

All of this happened in the time frame of ten seconds, as she moved fluidly like a machine. The man stayed still and did not get up. His lackeys were already running away at the hint of a fight, leaving the girl alone with a corpse.

"Why isn't the man getting up and running away with his friends Ashi?" The girl questioned innocently.

Not wanting to deal with the emotional turmoil telling the truth would put her in Ashi lied.

**'He's sleeping. He's gone into a very deep sleep and won't wake up for a while'**

"Okay Ashi, what about that red stuff coming out of him?"

**'That's the bad things he's done coming out of him, that's what happens when bad people go to sleep'**

"But that stuff has come out of me before too, does that make me a bad person Ashi?"

**'No, you're a good girl, so when that stuff starts coming out of you, you have to stop it as soon as possible, got it girly?"**

"Yes Ashi, I'm tired now" So the girl started walking towards the town again, sun long gone and moon taking its place.

* * *

A little girl sat up quickly in her bed, the night horrors had come to haunt her again. Ashi thought she had gotten over her family, her home, losing her entire world. But he was wrong. He could only see the outside even if he was inside her head.

The moonlight spilled through the window and gave her pale skin an eerie glow and made the tears pouring down her face shimmer and sparkle like diamonds. In truth she missed home and her family, and it hurt so much in her chest that sometimes she felt like falling asleep and not waking up for a while, just like that bad guy.

**'What's the matter girly, you woke me up with your pathetic sobbing'**

"I-I'm sorry Ashi, it just hurts so much, I want to go home" She sobbed out, covering her face with the pillow and curling up into a ball.

The voice that had been inside her head since she got here sighed **'It's okay to cry, just for tonight girly, I don't know too much about children, but if you need someone to…. Support you I guess, I'm always here'**

The girl sobbed harder into her pillow.

**'If it helps, think of me as your new family, like an older brother'**

She sniffled a bit more before smiling with tears still running down her face.

"I would like that, big brother"

Even though her pain was still there, and she still remembered, the pain had lessened slightly, and with time it would fade until all she would have to rely on,

Would be Ashi

* * *

The little girls day starts early, like most ninja in training (even though she though that wizards were way cooler).

A head of dark caramel hair peeked out of the cocoon of blankets she had made around herself the night before.

**'Come on girly, time to wake up'**

"Nngh" She mumbled something incoherent while rolling over in attempt to block out the voice. Her efforts were fruitless however, mainly because that voice was in her head.

**'If you don't get up now I won't teach you how to fly'**

The bundle shot up and out of bed revealing itself to the bright sunlight coming in through the window.

"I'm up big brother Ashi, I'm up please say you're still teaching me how to fly" She asked in a pleading tone.

He chuckled a bit before answering **'Of course girly, wouldn't dream of not teaching it to you'**

She then goes about her morning ritual which includes stretches,

"Look at me Ashi! My feet can touch my head in handstand"

**'Be care-'**

**THUMP**

**'Why do I even bother?'**

A lovely morning shower,

"Aah so nice"

Eating a nutritious breakfast (an apple),

Cleaning her teeth and getting dressed into her everyday clothes, which consist of a loose dark red tank top tied to her body with bandages, baggy black pants also tied to her legs with bandages, bandages on her feet ("Shoes are expensive" **'Whatever'**) and arms ("Ninja training hurts" **'It's supposed to'**) and a black scarf around her neck (sometimes pulled up to be a mask).

The little girl can then head off for Taijutsu lessons with her big brother.

**'Since you'll be starting with the weights tomorrow will up your training today-'**

"But Ashi" She whined

**'Don't 'Ashi' me, 23 laps around the village, 53 handstand push-ups, 100 crunches, practice your backhand springs till they're perfect and after that you can practice the basic fighting kata's again'**

"Fine" She pouted before starting her training.

*A while later*

"Finished Ashi! Can I go get lunch now?"

**'Go ahead'**

The town that the little girl was currently staying in was a small village near the sea that had bountiful food for very low prices. The best prices she had seen on her travels in fact, so for the past week she had been staying here, money was hard to come by these days for the little pickpocket. She had improved dramatically, but wasn't a master of it and would often slip up, she'd have to leave here soon.

"Hello little missy, how's your training going? Good I hope" A nice old lady asked the little girl.

"It's been going great Naomi. Could I please have five squid sticks?"

"Hungry today are you little one? Here it's on the house" The lady smiled showing her cracked and greying teeth.

"Thanks Naomi, see you" The little girl smiled back before running back to her temporary training grounds.

The rest of her day went through peacefully and quietly, Ashi had her work on chakra control for most of the afternoon so she could improve her 'Thousand Dancing Leaves' technique. It's a self created jutsu which allows her to use her chakra to form her body into leaves and travel long or short distances (depending on how much chakra is used) using chakra induced, or natural wind.

The little girl was now officially exhausted, so she got back to her small apartment and laid down to sleep.

"Night big brother Ashi"

Unbeknownst to the little girl as she fell asleep Ashi replied.

**'Night little sis''**

* * *

**(A/N: And I have made this special little extra because I love you all so much J)**

"Have you found the source yet?"

"Of course my lord, it seems to have been residing in the Land of the Waves for the past week, if we leave now we could make it there by tomorrow"

"Then prepare a team, we need to get there before it leaves"

"Yes my lord" His glasses glinted in the dimly lit room as he turned and left.

"Soon my plans will come together, and it will all be with the help of you, my dear little kyuubi girl" Orochimaru spoke to the room, his voice echoing out into the rest of the base where a small team of five was being prepared.

* * *

**A/N: Well I do hope you all liked the latest chapter of innocent evil :D Please review if you can because it will make me a very happy author : )**


	3. Capture the Girly

**A/N: Thank you to those who have favourited or followed this story, recently I have put up another Naruto story called Labrynth so if you could would you please check it out. I now present to you the latest chapter of Innocent Evil :)**

**Chapter 3**

**Capture the Girly**

Today would be the last day that the little girl stayed in The Land of the Waves. In total they had stayed there for about a month and she was now very low on cash. Over the month she had managed to dissolve her entire body into leaves for two minutes, which she thought was a huge improvement from what she could do originally. Ashi thought different, and kept saying that she had a long way to go.

'**There's no room for mistakes girly, if you aren't fast enough in battle bad people will come after you and hurt you, do you want that?'**

"No Ashi, but it hurts! I haven't had any good sleep at all for a while, and when you added the weights it got worse!" She whined, her arms falling from their original position as she sat down against a tree.

Ashi had been pushing the little girl much harder for the past weeks than he had before. He could tell that by staying in the same place for a month would draw all the wrong people to the girl. So he had been pushing her harder and subtly teaching her how to escape in between the training schedule.

'**Listen girly, bad people are going to come after you to get to me, you need to be able to get away from them until your strong enough to defeat them' **He lectured, trying to get her to see his point.

She sighed in understanding, Ashi had been much more jumpy recently and the little girl could feel his unease. She wanted to help, and she promised herself that she would get strong enough to protect Ashi.

Even though he was the one who had taken her from her only home, with every passing day she forgot more and more. All she had now was Ashi and if he disappeared there was no reason for her to keep going.

'**Girly I want you to promise me something'**

She looked up at the sky as she always did when speaking with Ashi "Of course, anything big brother"

'**Don't tell anyone about me, no one but you can hear me, so whenever you're with someone else don't speak to me'**

The girl had an idea of why he would ask that but still didn't quite understand. She promised anyway.

"I won't tell anyone one about you, I pinkie promise Ashi" She smiled at the sky while holding out her pinkie.

'**Alright then, back to training girly go through the twelve basic hand signs again and then practice A Thousand Dancing Leaves'**

For the rest of the day they worked on how long the girl could stay as leaves while minimizing the amount of chakra used. She was only able to extend the time by five seconds by the time that lunch came around.

"Is it lunch time Ashi? 'Cause I'm really hungry, I think I only have enough chakra left to do that jutsu one more time, it's soooo exhausting" The little girl complained, her arms hanging limply by her sides and her back hunched forward.

'**Fine girly, go replenish your energy but remember to be aware'**

"Yes! Thank you big brother Ashi" Her mouth broke out into a smile as she lifted her arms in victory and started running towards the village with her meagre amount of money.

As she got closer to the village she slowed down to a walk and dropped her arms while humming happily. Like Ashi had said she kept herself aware of her surroundings and continuously checked any funny chakra she found. Because she was not originally born with chakra she was much more sensitive to it, so she could distinguish the difference between chakras.

She was almost back at the village when she picked up seven interesting chakra's she had never felt before. The little girl dropped her smile and stopped walking immediately. The chakras were coming from just up the road in a bunch of the trees.

"Hello? Why are you people hiding in the tree's, are you playing hide and seek?" She tilted her head to the side and walked up to the bunch of trees.

'**Don't get any closer girly, those are bad people' **She stopped moving and her eyes widened slightly, so these were the bad people that Ashi always told her about.

Slowly she could see two people come out of the trees, one had long silver hair in a ponytail with round glasses that the light glinted off, and the other was very pale and had long black hair that fell past his shoulders. He reminded the girl of a snake, everything about him screamed danger from his chakra to the way he looked.

But she was just so hypnotised by him, he was so interesting in her eyes, like a new toy she could play with. Without realising it she started moving towards him, she didn't even notice Ashi growling in her head to turn around and run away. Both of the two strange people seemed shocked, but they hid it well.

The little girl still hadn't snapped out of it and when she was close enough she reached out and grabbed his hand to inspect.

"You're so pale mister, are you sick? You should probably get medicine" The curious girl said.

To say that Kabuto and Orochimaru were shocked would be an understatement. They were baffled and slightly amused that a child, someone who would usually run away at the sight of them, would walk up to them and start examining Orochimaru's hand.

In their eyes she was innocent, naïve, easy to fool and easy to crush.

"Hello child, would you mind if I could have my hand back?" The snake-like one asked looking down on her with amusement.

Only then did the little girl snap out of her trance seeming shocked by her actions she let go of his hand quickly and stepped back.

"Oh I'm so sorry mister that's never happened before, oh and I didn't listen to Ash- Oops never mind" She giggled nervously and scratched the side of her head.

This only seemed to make the men even more amused.

'**Girly, get out of there. Now' **Ashi growled in her head for the second time, making her eyes widen again.

She slowly started backing away keeping her eyes on the two until she ran into something. She looked up to see the one wearing glasses behind her.

Now she was panicking, she started sprinting towards the village with enhanced speed, but when she saw people in front of her she decided to use her special jutsu. It wasn't perfect yet and would only last for a little over two minutes, but if it helped her escape she would use it.

"Thousand Dancing Leaves!" She quickly went through the hand signs before feeling herself dividing and being blown towards the forest by a gentle wind.

An advantage of this jutsu, in the girl's opinion, was that she could see everything around the leaves, like 360 degrees vision.

She could see the two men looking towards the forest with narrowed eyes and five others looking towards the forest confusedly.

'**One minute left, I'm blocking out chakra girly so they can't find out where we are until the jutsu ends, hopefully by then we'll be so far away that they can't sense us'**

Suddenly the five other people started running through the trees, they seemed to be following the bunch of leaves that the girl had turned into.

'**Disperse the leaves in different directions, thirty seconds left'**

She did as Ashi said and tried to disperse the leaves in different directions, but by doing that it ate up the rest of her chakra and made the leaves smash back together and turn into the girl again. She fell down through the trees with the five others following her.

Half-way down the girl re-gained her bearings and flipped so she would land on her feet. The five others landed soon after her.

'**Use what I've taught you' **was all Ashi said before the girl started moving again. Two came at her at the same time with some kind of sharp thing in their hands. They were fast, but as soon as she dropped her weights, she was faster.

She removed the nine inch knife she had removed from the man that had attacked her before and used it to clash with both of their knives at once. She swept out her leg quickly after and caused both of the strangers to fall to the ground. A third person came up behind her to try and surprise her.

She ducked underneath his arm and launched herself backwards so that her head was propelled into his gut, winding him. By then the other two had gotten off the ground and were now running towards her while she was distracted.

At the same time they drew back their fists and punched her in the face, causing her to sway backwards.

The pain hit her full force but it only encouraged her to fight back more. She stopped herself swaying backwards and moved herself forwards, punching the two with twice the amount of force causing their necks to snap. The other guy regained his breath and threw one of the sharp things at her. It barely scraped over her shoulder.

She turned and ran towards him, spearing her own knife through his ribs and into his lungs.

The other two strangers that had been observing the fight were now on both sides of her and restraining her.

"It's hard to believe that this little girl defeated three Sound ninja that easily" A dark pink haired girl said, she had bandages covering the top of her head and one of her bangs fell in between her eyes.

"She's nothing special, just a little girl trying to act like an adult" A boy with pale blue hair and dark turquoise lips sneered. He seemed to have a second head dangling from the back of his neck.

"Let's just take her back to lord Orochimaru" The read head replied and they went jumping back through the trees.

The little girl was panicking in her head, Ashi hadn't come back yet and she'd been taken by the bad people who were after Ashi.

'**Calm down girly, as long as you don't tell them about me you'll be fine' **Ashi calmed the girl. At the sound of his voice she stopped panicking and relaxed into the hold of her capturers.

They eventually got back to the road where the other two were.

"Good job, Sakon, Tayuya, I take it that the other three are dead?"

"Yes lord Orochimaru" They said in unison while bowing. The one with silver hair pushed his glasses up.

"What is your name child?"

A name? Do I even have one anymore? Ashi only ever calls me girly and others just call me little girl or child.

'**Your name can be Akumu'**

Doesn't Akumu mean Nightmare?

'**Shush girly, we don't have time'**

"My name is Akumu"

"Hm? Interesting. My name is Orochimaru, this is Kabuto, Tayuya and Sakon" he gestured to each person as he said their name.

"You will be staying with us from now on, and we will train you and take care of you"

Akumu tilted her head to the side. She didn't understand why he would do that for her if he was a supposed bad person.

'**Don't worry girly, just go with him I'll tell whether he's safe or not. And he's offering to train you isn't he? You'll be fine'**

The girl trusted Ashi deeply and believed him when he said she would be okay, and if he was offering to train her it would be okay, wouldn't it?

Wouldn't it?


	4. What Really Happened

**A/N: Hello everyone! I know it has been a while since I last updated but that's only because I just started Term 2, and the teachers are already bombarding us with assignments :) I know that's no excuse and so I present to you the next chapter of Innocent Evil (This chapter is dedicated to my first reviewers and Sutakane, thank you for the advice :) )**

**Chapter 4**

**What Really Happened**

Melody was never one to sit still and relax. For her entire life she had always been moving, need to get here at this time, need to be there 5 minutes after that, move, move, move. Pushing to move faster, to get everything done, if people thought that she would stop moving even after her child's supposed 'Death' then they were all wrong. Stopping the movement was impossible now, she had gotten so used to it that without it, she would be lost.

Not that she wanted to, she had to find her child, she had to know what happened to her little Lucy.

It had barely been a month since it happened, the funeral was toned down to only close family and friends. Melody had attended but refused to let even one tear escape her eyes, it would be weakness and it would also lead her one step closer to believing her baby was gone for good, and she couldn't, no she wouldn't believe that.

Every day after the funeral her and Jack would be at the library, on the computers compiling information that was even remotely connected to what happened. It wasn't much so far, but at least they had a little bit of an idea of what they were dealing with.

"Look here Jack, I found another article about it"

Jack pushed his chair away from the computer desk and rolled his way over to his wife. On the computer screen was an article, with big bold letters spread across the parchment that read 'Terrorists Destroy Office Building'. Melody had quickly scanned through the article and pointed out a highlighted section to her husband.

_Victims and witnesses say that through the explosion they had seen a demon fox that was covered in the fire from the explosion. One of the witnesses said 'It didn't even look like fire, more like an orange energy that almost seemed to be a part of it', later after the explosion all witnesses and victims were found dead with the same cause of death, a foreign substance had entered their body, most likely from the explosion, and their body had rejected it effectively killing them from the inside out._

"Jack it can't just be a coincidence, this is the seventh article we've found that has mentioned a demon fox" Melody's eyes had lit up in excitement. She was one step closer to finding her baby.

"So now that we've established that you are not crazy," "Jack!" Melody leaned over and whacked her husband in the shoulder "What are we looking for next"

Melody hadn't thought of that.

Akumu was exhausted. Her fight with the Sound Ninja had left her completely drained and boarder line unconscious, in fact the only reason she was still able to move was because Ashi's chakra was able to regenerate quickly. The entire trip so far had been in silence, no one said anything or tried to talk to her, it made her feel like she didn't belong.

The loss of her family and her entire world was now just a dull ache shoved to the back of her mind, every day she forgot a little more, she couldn't even remember their faces anymore, and she couldn't remember why her world was so different from this one. The only place she felt at home now is wherever Ashi is and Ashi is always with her so she's always at home. Slowly her existence in that world was becoming nothing, and the little girl didn't feel anything for it.

She had Ashi now, and maybe even Mr Pale Snake Sir if he wanted to be her friend.

"Um, Mr, how long left do we have to go?" Akumu questioned innocently, her voice barely above a whisper from her previous exertion.

No one turned around, or even so much as twitched at the little girl's question. She didn't let herself get disheartened though, Ashi was like this all the time. She'd ask a question and he wouldn't reply, she'd keep on asking at minute intervals until he did. It was like a game to her.

**'I wouldn't do that if I were you girly' **Ashi's voice broke through the jumping thoughts in her mind, startling her enough to make her jump slightly.

The people she was travelling with glanced at her curiously, she quickly composed herself and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

'Since when can you hear my thoughts Ashi?' The girl jumped a second time when she realised that she just talked back to Ashi, without opening her mouth.

**'I don't know when it happened but apparently we can speak through thoughts now'**

'What does that mean Ashi?'

The fox demon sighed **'It means girly, that you don't have to say things out loud anymore to speak to me'**

A knowing look went over Akumu's face and she nodded vigorously to herself. Now there would be less chance of anyone finding Ashi and taking him away from her. The little girls eyes once again focused on the back in front of her, she decided that she'd ask one more time before stopping.

"Excuse me Oroki Orochima maru, but will we be there soon, I'm sore" The girl's voice was barely above a croaky whisper and non-ninja's would've had to strain to hear it. Orochimaru's head turned slightly to look back at her.

"Soon" He said and turned back to face the road.  
"Soon?"

"Yes"

And with that the group continued to move along the road at a more relaxed pace. Although the girl's curiosity was not satisfied, she understood that she wouldn't get any more information out of him.

"I don't know! Find out more about this supposed fox demon! Argh sometimes you make the most annoying points" Melody threw her arms up in the air and walked into the kitchen, a chuckling Jack following close behind.

She reached up into a cupboard and pulled out hot chocolate powder, accidently causing a jar of coffee beans and a jar of sugar to fall. Both jars collided with each other and shattered making the sugar and coffee mix with each other.

Suddenly Melody had an epiphany.

"Jack! I have an idea of what happened to our baby girl!"

"What?"

"Well what if there were other universes or worlds out there and they're all floating in this space minding their own business, but occasionally some collide" Melody gestured to the broken jars "And when they do a crack forms in both that allows some things to escape into the other world" Then Melody moved her hand to gesture to the sugar and coffee that were smashed together on the floor.

"That," Jack moved around the shattered glass to stand beside his wife "is ingenious"

He leant down and captured her lips with his own in a passionate kiss.

Akumu's body and mind had both had it, they had been walking for most of the afternoon now and she hadn't even had lunch yet. Her eyes drooped shut, and her limbs sluggishly slowed until she was barely moving at all, and then she lost consciousness.

Orochimaru and his henchmen secretly watched on as the girl lost consciousness. Before her head could hit the floor Tayuya scooped the girl up in her arms.

The group silently made the decision that it was finally safe to go to the base as the girl was definitely not faking her unconsciousness. They all leapt off the road in sync and sped through the tree's at an alarming rate, so fast that their surroundings were blurred to colours.

After a few minutes they stopped in front of a secret rock entrance covered in seals, a few hand signs later and the group was descending underground into one of Orochimaru's many bases. The halls were long and littered with lanterns and earthy doors. Screams echoed continuously and the smell of iron, dirt and dust seemed to be permanently imprinted in the halls. The group proceeded to go their different ways, Kabuto and Orochimaru heading deeper into the base while Sakon and Tayuya dropped Akumu off in one of the many rooms before heading back to their own.

Akumu's chest slowly lifted and fell, as she stayed within her dreams.

**_'Wake up girly'_**_ Akumu's head felt light and her body felt like it could float. Her eyes slowly opened to see a man with long flowing orange hair with black streaks, his eyes were narrow and red with slitted pupils, his hair fell long past his shoulders and pooled around his feet. White, red and black robes fell around his shoulders and over his lithe frame._

_'Who are you?' Akumu questioned, her voice ringing out clearly in the absent space, bouncing off non-existent walls and rebounding back to her._

**_'I'm hurt, surely you would remember the voice of your dear older brother'_**

_Akumu leapt from the floor and wrapped her short arms around the much clearly taller Ashi. He placed one of his arms hesitantly around the small girl as she clutched him tight._

_'I'm sorry Ashi I've just never seen you before, I didn't know I'm sorry' she sobbed into his robes as his arm awkwardly held her. A few minutes later her sniffles finally died out and she looked up to her brother._

**_'Listen Akumu, you're at Orochimaru's base now, I won't be able to speak to as often, except in your dreams, just remember that I'm always here'_**

_'Why did it take so long Ashi?'_

**_'They were waiting for you to pass out, it seems they don't quite trust you yet, especially changing your mind so quickly back there'_**

_'When I fought them and then told them I'd come with them? I guess that is kinda confuzzling'_

**_'When in this base I want you to be careful, think about what everyone says, observe instead of blurting the first thing to come to mind, say things carefully, you're on the edge of a very sharp knife at the moment, ok girly?'_**

_Akumu nodded her head once 'Ok big brother, I'll be careful they won't know a thing!' Her face broke into a smile like the sun, it was then that Ashi realised that he actually __cared__ for the little girl that was only meant to be a temporary vessel, that somehow when he wasn't looking she managed to worm her way into his black heart._

_She was the sun and he was the moon, two opposites that were never meant to be together but still work in harmony anyway. With a shock his concentration shattered and the little girl disappeared from his realm. He would have to spend a very long time re-thinking everything that he had planned thus far. Ashi stood to his full height and walked through the white misty space towards a single desk cluttered with scrolls, ink and brushes._

"Orochimaru-sama excuse me for saying this but, she didn't look much like a child of the Kyuubi" Kabuto stated walking beside his master.

"She has to be acting"

"But have you ever considered that maybe she's _innocent_"

Orochimaru stopped and turned to face his subordinate.

"Please Kabuto, have you ever heard of an innocent demon? I certainly haven't"

"Of course Orochimaru-sama" They continued walking down the dark and damp hallway, their backs slowly disappearing into the distance.

"Pein-sama" A beautiful blue haired kunoichi stepped into the dim light of the room.

A man covered in shadows nodded his head "Konan"

"Orochimaru has accepted our offer, when should we collect him and his subordinates?"

The shadowed man stood from his chair and paced to a shelf filled with papers "Tell him to meet us at our old base in half a year"

"Yes Pein-sama" Konan bowed her head and gracefully exited the room in a swirl of paper butterfly's.

The man covered in shadows sat back down in his seat and flipped opened a folder that he had picked up from the shelf.

OROCHIMARU  
AGE: 50  
RANK: SANIN  
SPECIALTYS: SEALS, CURSES

HOBBYS: SCIENTIST  
SUBBORDINATES: KABUTO, TAYUYA, SAKON, UKON, UNKNOWN

"Hm, what are you hiding?"

He shut the folder and carefully placed it back on the shelf.

"Zetsu, gather all the members, I'm calling a group meeting"

Yellow eyes appeared on the far wall and there was a quiet 'yes sir' before they disappeared again, travelling at speeds that not even a ninja could compete with.


End file.
